SAN FRANCISCO (Legal Newsline) – The risk that a hiker assumed on a trail that allows dogs to be off-leash doesn’t apply to a personal injury lawsuit, a California appeals court has ruled.
The First Appellate District ruled July 17 to let Diane Wolf’s case against Alexander Weber proceed. Wolf was injured while walking her dog in 2016 on Wildcat Gorge Trail in Tilden Regional Park.
In that area, dogs were allowed off their leashes if they were under their owners’ control.
Weber’s large dog was off-leash, as was Wolf’s. Weber’s dog approached Wolf and allegedly collided with her leg, dislocating her ankle and breaking two bones in her leg.
“Neither Wolf nor her husband witnessed what caused her fall,” Justice Alison Tucher wrote.
Weber says his dog was tripped while playing with Wolf’s and assumes he struck Wolf on his way to the ground.
Weber was granted summary judgment on an “assumption of risk” defense, but the appellate court overturned, allowing the case to proceed toward trial.
“Weber was unaware that Luigi had run toward Wolf’s party until the dog was 20 to 30 yards away and Wolf called out in fear, and Luigi did not initially respond to Weber’s commands to sit and to return to him,” Tucher wrote.
“There is evidence that Luigi collided with Wolf, causing her injuries, and no evidence to establish that she invited the interaction. On this record, there is at least a triable issue of fact whether Luigi was under Weber’s control.”